Radley Balko: Kevin Brown; California; Drug lab errors; From our 'when you think you've seen it all' department: A very sad commentary by Radley Balko on a crime lab analyst who killed himself after contamination wrongly made him a suspect in a 30-year-old murder..."Though the facts of this case are unique, the failures that reportedly drove Brown to suicide aren’t: tunnel-visioned investigators, judges who sign off on broad search warrants with little to no scrutiny, shoddy crime lab work and public officials who can’t bring themselves to admit that the system sometimes makes mistakes (in this case, the crime lab director couldn’t bring herself to admit to problems that existed decades ago). The good news is that the federal judge has allowed this case to proceed, ruling against the police investigators’ motion for summary judgment."

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: As this disturbing post  by the master criminal justice commentator Radley Balko  defies reduction I have enclosed  minimum text and encourage our readers to read the entire commentary at the link below.

Harold Levy. Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog:

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COMMENTARY: " A crime lab analyst killed himself after contamination wrongly made him a suspect in a 30-year-old murder," by Radley Balko, published by The Washington Post in his Blog 'The Warch' on June 5, 2017. ( Radley Balko blogs about criminal justice, the drug war and civil liberties for The Washington Post. He is the author of the book "Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America's Police Forces.")

GIST:  "This is one of the stranger cases I’ve seen in a while, although the systemic problems that caused the whole ordeal will sound familiar. It’s also quite sad. Here are the facts, from a recent opinion by a federal judge in Southern California....(As set out in the link below).......Though the facts of this case are unique, the failures that reportedly drove Brown to suicide aren’t: tunnel-visioned investigators, judges who sign off on broad search warrants with little to no scrutiny, shoddy crime lab work and public officials who can’t bring themselves to admit that the system sometimes makes mistakes (in this case, the crime lab director couldn’t bring herself to admit to problems that existed decades ago). The good news is that the federal judge has allowed this case to proceed, ruling against the police investigators’ motion for summary judgment."

The entire commentary can be found at:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2017/06/05/a-crime-lab-analyst-killed-himself-after-contamination-wrongly-made-him-a-suspect-in-a-30-year-old-murder/?utm_term=.2491acaf44f2

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy; Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog;